Various kinds of approaches have been taken in the prior art for recording medical information in a format suitable for use in an emergency situation. One approach is to provide a medical data card for manually recording the data which a user may simply carry in his wallet. Unfortunately, these cards do not provide enough space for recording all of the pertinent information which, in some cases, is critical in administering proper medical attention in an emergency situation. Therefore, it is desirable to provide the medical data in a reduced format in order to include everything that could be used in such a situation. However, when this information is contained in a reduced format, its readability is potentially compromised for various reasons. The first of these is that special care must be taken in recording and preserving the information in the card format as the card is subject to wear, heat, moisture, and other conditions which tend to impair the readability of the recorded information. Still another problem relates to the need to quickly be able to read the information without requiring additional specialized equipment. If a user is in a car accident, for example, the emergency medical personnel who arrive on the scene typically do not have any special equipment for reading reduced-sized medical information. This is perhaps because there are many various kinds of data cards which would require a myriad of equipment to be carried.
In order to solve these and other problems in the prior art, the inventors herein have succeeded in designing and developing an emergency medical card which has a laminated "window" for carrying microprocessed data, and a detachable lens which may be conveniently separated from the card and used by emergency medical personnel quickly and conveniently to read the medical data. Thus, a user need not rely on emergency medical personnel having access to any specialized equipment, card readers, magnifying lenses, or the like and instead can be confident in knowing that the medical data may be readily accessed by anyone. The emergency medical card may be provided in either of two embodiments. In a first embodiment, a poly hinge having a pair of opposing, flexible clamps secures a separate lens "mini-card" to a peripheral edge of a credit card-sized data card which carries the medical information. The poly hinge is sufficiently flexible to permit the lens card portion to be folded completely around and adjacent the data card portion so that the medical card may be conveniently carried in any credit card-sized opening in a wallet, purse, or the like. Also, a card carrier may be provided into which the emergency medical card may be slipped with the lens card folded over, and the carrying case retained as a unit. The opposing clamps have sufficient resiliency to "clamp" along the edge of the card and lens and hold them together for storage and carrying. When the need arises, either side of the hinge may be released by simply sliding the lens card transversely to the data card such that either one of the two slides out from within the opposing clamps. The lens card may be then oriented at a convenient focal point for viewing the reduced-size medical information carried in the data card.
In still another embodiment, the lens may be mounted directly within the contour, or periphery, of the data card. The lens may be conveniently mounted with a perforated "hinge" which permits a user to permanently separate the lens from the data card for viewing the medical information. Alternately, a multiple use "hinge" arrangement may be utilized such that the lens may be replaced for reuse.
In either embodiment of the invention, holes may be provided in the card to permit the card to be worn or secured to the user, such as through a key ring, shoelace, necklace, etc. To enhance this "wearable" feature, the "hinged" embodiment may have a reduced size card, smaller than a credit card, for carrying the medical data. Also, in either embodiment, the medical information may be microprocessed for imaging at approximately three times standard microfilm size. With this microprocessing, an observer's unaided eye may discern that information of some type is printed and available, but requires magnification for clear reading. This is readily recognizable by an emergency medical person and desirably alerts them to the presence of the information, and its location. The almost discernible information also encourages trained personnel to take the next step and detach the lens for viewing of the information. If smaller type or reproductions of the data were used, medical personnel may incorrectly assume that the information is not readily accessible and hence not bother trying to "figure out" what is required to read the information.
While the principal advantages and features of the present invention have been described above, a more complete and thorough understanding of the invention may be attained by referring to the drawings and description of the preferred embodiment which follow.